Seeds planted for agricultural and other purposes are often treated with insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, inoculants, micronutrients and/or other compositions prior to planting. Treatment may accomplish various purposes including inhibiting the growth of insects, bacteria, molds, fungus, and parasites that are destructive to the seed and plant growth. Seed treatments are commonly applied by spraying a liquid composition to the surface of seed. Direct application of the seed treatment fluid to the seed before planting requires a smaller quantity of seed treatment composition than the traditional field application of treatment fluids.
Treatment system components are commonly stacked vertically, allowing for the gravimetric flow of seed between components. First, seed is delivered to a weighing or staging hopper positioned at the top of the treatment system. Seed then flows downward into a seed wheel or other metering system that regulates the flow of untreated seed into the treatment chamber. In the treatment chamber, airborne droplets of treatment fluid are applied to the seed surface. The seed exits the treatment chamber into a horizontal rotating drum with hollow ends for receiving and discharging seed. A discharge conveyor or auger then receives the discharged seed. The conveyor, bucket elevator, or auger transfers the treated seed to the subsequent storage or transport vessel.
The vertical stacking requires the first component, the weigh hopper, to be raised high in the air on a large frame. Likewise, the treater chamber is elevated above the rotating drum, which requires the electronic and fluid controls to be extended to the elevated position. The horizontal drum is also mounted to an elevated frame, the legs of the frame are commonly 24 to 36 inches tall, in order to discharge seed into the discharge conveyor.
The rotating drum mixes the treated seed, evenly distributes the treatment coat, and allows the treatment solution to dry. The interior of the rotating drum is lined with a series of lifting flights for mixing the treated seed and propelling the seed towards the discharge end of the drum. The flights pass through the aggregate of treated seed in the bottom of the drum causing the seed to be lifted up the side of the drum, creating a continuous cascade of seed that mixes and evenly distributes treatment across the surface of the individual seeds. At the discharge end of the rotating drum, the flighting pushes the aggregate out the bottom of the open discharge end of the rotating drum.
A significant problem with the height of stacked treatment systems is that since they are very tall, on the order of 21 feet or more in height, the systems rarely fit in existing buildings. Given that ordinary buildings do not have this clearance height, it is necessary to custom design a custom facilities to house the seed treating assembly, or to incur the costs to modify existing building to accommodate the treating assembly. Several existing technologies have been introduced to attempt to lower individual components within the stacked seed treater systems, including low-profile hopper assemblies, such as U.S. Pat. No. 8,177,095 to Jim Renyer et al., and low-profile discharge conveyors and bucket elevators. However, even with the added cost and complexity of these existing solutions, the stacked treater system remains excessively tall.